I Don't Want to Fall for You Again
by 7thseven
Summary: Percy and Annabeth dated in high school. Then they sort of broke up. 5 years later, they meet again, both of them famous. Both still broken hearted, they're forced to work together. Will they fall for each other again? What happened to them in the first place? EVERYBODY IS MORTAL!
1. How We Met

**Hey guys! Happy New Year!**

**So I already wrote a chapter one, but I decided to replace it with this.**

* * *

Chapter 1: How We Met (Annabeth)

"You can't just tell the producer that you're not going to do a song for the CD," my manager, Piper McLean, told me. "It's already been spread that you're going to sing a song for the soundtrack for your movie."

Piper's been my best friend since senior year when I moved to San Francisco with my mom. She has dark brown hair, eyes that constantly change color so there's no way to know what color they are, and a perfect complexion. She's beautiful, more than me anyways, so I've always wondered how she ended up my manager instead of an actress herself. I think she hated the idea of fame after growing up with a famous dad. He was never around for her and couldn't go anywhere with her without getting bombarded by paparazzi. Yet for the same reason, the girl had connections and was able to get me on TV before I graduated. She immediately became my manager.

I rolled my eyes. "Then maybe next time he shouldn't tell everybody that I'm going to sing a song for the track before telling me," I pointed out.

Yet, as we spoke, we were on our way to Apollo's recording studio to record the song. Or at least discuss it. Since we hadn't decided on a song yet. Or even had it narrowed it down to a few. Hell, the only thing we knew about the song was that I had to sing it.

Piper shrugged. "Milo has his own agenda," she said. "Half the time I swear he doesn't know what's going on. He's forgetful. He probably would've told you if he had remembered to. Besides, this is good publicity. You could be on one of those movies where they sing all the time?"

I raised an eyebrow. "A musical?" But she smiled and I realized she was only teasing.

"Who knows? Maybe someday you'll quit acting and want to sing."

"If I quit acting, I'm going to lay low. I have enough money now to last the rest of my life."

The limo pulled up in front of Apollo (he seriously named his studio after himself). The driver ran out and opened doors for us. Piper and I got out and stood in front of the studio. "Who knows?" Piper said slyly. "You might even like this."

I rolled my eyes. "I seriously doubt it," I said in a sing song voice.

* * *

Apollo met us at the door. "Piper! So good to see you! And Annabeth!" He gave us a gleaming smile full of white teeth bright enough to blind you if you got too close.

Apollo's another one of Zeus's (Hollywood's top producer) children. Apollo's hot to say the least. He has blond hair, warm brown eyes, and a great tan. He's tall, lean, and muscular. He was dressed in a red dress shirt and black slacks. He's about twenty-seven and a major flirt. He has a new woman every other day of the week. He's also a has-been. He has a major talent for music, and used to be majorly famous for his music, but something happened and he quit singing. Now he's famous for the artists he signs and the women he's caught with.

I smiled. "Good to see you as always, Apollo."

Piper nodded in agreement. "Nice to see you, too, Apollo."

"I hear you're single," he told her. "Why don't you and me get a drink later and catch up?" He winked at her.

Piper rolled her eyes. "I've told you several times, Apollo, that I'm not interested."

"Can't blame a guy for trying," he said and once again flashed that gleaming smile.

"How did you get him to stop hitting on you?" Piper asked me.

I grinned. "Easy. I kicked his ass when he tried to put a move on me at a party."

Apollo smiled good naturedly. "Still hurts too." My grin widened. "Why don't we go on a tour, girls? I'll show you around as best as I can, but I have a band recording upstairs, so let's try not to interrupt them."

Apollo lead us around the studio, showing us dozens of rooms and introducing us to staff.

_I gotta, I gotta pocketful of sunshine_, started playing. Everybody in the room looked at us. It was Apollo's phone.

I raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You going to get that?"

He blushed and pulled out his phone. "Hello?" A voice started rambling on the other end. "Rachel, calm down. Just tell me what happened." Although, Rachel who must've been the girl on the other end sounded frantic, Apollo had a funny smile on his face. "Alright, I'll be right up. Does the band mind if I bring some guests with me?" He paused. "Alright, see you in a few." He pocket his phone, still smiling. "Do you two mind if we go upstairs to one of the studios? My newest employee, Rachel, is having some trouble with the equipment. Something about it bursting into flames."

I gave him a weird look. "By all means, go ahead."

He grinned and headed towards the elevator. Funny, he didn't seem in much of a hurry even with the possibility of his whole studio burning down. He seemed like he was kind of in a kind of daze. He was just smiling. I wondered if this Rachel had anything to do with it.

We road to the third floor in the elevator. Piper and I exchanged a look when Apollo started trying to fix his hair in one of the mirrors in the elevator while humming along to _Pocketful of Sunshine_ which was playing in the elevator. It was extremely awkward. Finally the doors opened with a ding and we were out.

Piper and I followed Apollo down the hall to the last room on the left. He knocked on the door and was answered by a redhead, probably Rachel, I assumed from how Apollo's smile widened.

Rachel was probably about nineteen or twenty and pretty. She had a long mane of curly red hair, pale skin, and emerald green eyes. She was thin and about my height. She wore a green v-neck, a black scarf, black skinny jeans, and black ankle boots. She looked frantic.

"Good afternoon, Rachel," Apollo said, and flashed her his gleaming smile which seemed to have no affect on her although it made most girls weak at the knees.

"Mr. Apollo, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to! I don't know what happened! Everything was going fine and I was using the equipment exactly the way you taught me! But suddenly everything went wrong and the sound board burst into flames."

"How many times have I told you? Call me Apollo," Apollo told her, obviously not listening.

"Sorry, Apollo. What about the sound board?"

"I'm sure it's fine now."

Rachel pulled open the door the rest of the way, not saying anything.

"Oh my Gods!" Apollo yelled, breaking out of his daze at the sight.

He put it just about right. The sound board was on fire and a guy was trying to smother it when we came in with his t-shirt, the only thing he managed to do was spread the fire to his t-shirt. Then he freaked out and threw it across the room. Then another boy who looked a lot like the first one came in with a guitar, and smashed it on the fire, which did nothing but light that on fire also. Then a third boy burst into the room behind me with a fire extinguisher and put out the fire.

Apollo ran a hand through his hair, not saying anything.

Then the smoke reached the detector in the room. The sprinklers started spraying water down on us and an alarm started screaming.

The sound of feet running down the hall and yelling traveled over to us. "What's going on?" a familiar voice asked. I spun around and got a blast from the past.

In front of me was five people I knew from high school, but I was only focused on one. Black hair. Gorgeous sea green eyes. He was tall and muscular. "Percy?" I breathed.

"Annabeth?" he asked, looking just as shocked. What was he doing here?

"Connor!" one of the boys said.

Sirens started screaming at us as they came down the street. A security guard ran in. "I'm afraid we need to evacuate," he informed us.

* * *

"Well," Apollo said, "that was a nice tour, wasn't it?"

We were sitting outside, trying to dry off while we waited for the firemen to decide whether we could go back in. That one room seemed to be the only one that had any damage.

Rachel was freaking out and kept apologizing to Apollo. I wasn't really listening though. I was staring across the parking lot at a certain green eyed man. He didn't seem real. It was like a dream. A terrifying dream that didn't quite make the status as a nightmare.

Piper appeared next to me. "You know him?"

* * *

**Flashback!**

_It was my first day of school at Goode High. My dad had just got a new job working for a university in New York, and we had bought a house only a few blocks from the high school. Thank God it was the beginning of the school year though so maybe I wouldn't be the only new student at the school. _

_I stared up at the brick building with a banner across the entry way reading _Time to Start a Goode School Year! _from my dad's car. I rolled my eyes at the slogan. That was going to get old quick if they kept using Goode instead of good. _

"_You ready?" Dad asked me._

_I shook my head. "No."_

_I was never very good at making new friends. I moved around a lot. Virginia, California, New York. I was used to being a loner by now, but I wanted this year to be different. I was a sophomore after all. I couldn't spend the next three years like last year, eating half a sandwich as quickly as I could, then hiding out in the library because I didn't know who to sit with. High school's supposed to be the best years of your life right? God, I hope not._

_Dad patted me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Annabeth. Everything's going to work out fine. You're a great person and I bet you'll make a lot of friends." Dad was an optimistic person. He looked at the good in everybody. He believed in me more than anybody. Sometimes I liked to think of him as my best friend, as ridiculous as that sounded. I mean, what kind of person's best friend was their dad? One with no friends, I reminded myself._

_The bell rang. I forced a smile. "You're right. This year will be different. I'll make tons of friends." Hopefully. "See you later," I said, getting out of the car._

"_Love you," he called._

"_Love you too," I said, shutting the door, and ran across the street to my new school._

"_Hi," I said, "I came to get my schedule. I'm new here."_

_The secretary smiled up at me from her chair. "It's nice to have new faces here. What's your name, dear?"_

"_Annabeth Chase," I told her. _

_She nodded and looked around her desk. "I seemed to have misplaced it. I'll go print one off for you. It'll be quicker that way." She got out of her chair and disappeared into a room connected to the one we were in._

_I sat in a chair to wait for her. I hoped this wouldn't take too long. I didn't want to be too late for class. This was the first day._

"_Miss Tanaka, it's the first day of school," a voice said coming down the hall. "Already you've gotten yourself in trouble for violating the dress code."_

"_But it's hot, Principal Grey," another voice complained back. "You don't expect me to wear a turtleneck, do you?"_

_A woman came into the office, followed by an Asian girl around my age. The woman wore a nice dress shirt, a skirt and heels. Her brown hair was pulled back tight in a bun. She wore only a few hints of makeup. The girl had dark brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a lot of make up including pink mascara. Her hair was in done in ringlets. She wore short shorts and a low cut tank top._

"_Why can't you dress more like this girl?" Principal Grey asked the girl and motioned towards me._

_My eyes widened. Oh God, please don't drag me into this. _

_The girl studied me as they passed and sneered before following the principal into her office. _

_Great. A mean girl. Just what I needed. _

"_Ah, here you are," the secretary said, coming back with a piece of paper in her hand. She gave it to me. "It has each class, the room number, and teacher."_

"_Thanks."_

_First I looked for my locker so I wouldn't have to try to later in a big crowd. I walked down the hall, reading the numbers of the lockers as I passed, not looking up. That was a major mistake._

_I didn't realize anybody else was in the hall and ran straight into an open locker door. "Ow," I said, falling on my butt._

"_Oh crap. Are you okay?" a voice asked. "Here, let me help you."_

_I looked up to see the hottest guy I've ever met. He had messy black hair and mesmerizing sea green eyes. He was tall and lean with just enough muscle that he wasn't bulging like someone on steroids or something. He was probably my age, maybe a year older. He held a hand out to me._

_I took it, and he helped me up. "Are you alright?" he asked._

_I nodded, embarrassed. Now I'm running into lockers in front of hot guys. Great first impression Annabeth._

_He gave me a boyish grin. "Gotta watch where you're going," he teased. He glanced at my schedule. "You're new," he said, more like a statement than a question._

"_How'd you know?"_

_He gave me that boyish smile again. "Only newbies carry around their schedules. Even the freshman know better."_

_I looked at my locker number again. 7777. The boy's locker was 7776. I went around him and found my locker was right next to his. I wasn't sure how to feel about that._

"_Who do you have for homeroom?" the boy asked, closing his locker._

_I studied my schedule."Mr. Blofis," I told him. _

_The boy smiled. "Me too. He's my stepdad. Come on, I'll take you there."_

"_You don't have-"_

"_It's the least I could do after you ran into my locker door."_

_I blushed. "That was my fault though."_

_He grinned. "Maybe, but I shouldn't have left it open like that. Come on. I have to go there anyways."_

_I smiled. His grin was contagious. "Alright."_

* * *

"_And don't sit in the front in Mr. Pimberly's class unless you bring an umbrella. He spits when he talks." The boy was telling me about my teachers I would have while he lead me to homeroom. _

_I laughed. "I'll remember that."_

_We stopped in front of the door to a classroom. "This is it," the boy said. "I'm Percy Jackson by the way."_

"_Annabeth Chase," I told him. _

"_That's a cool name," he said with a slight smile. "Hey, um, do you want to sit with me and my friends at lunch? I mean, if you don't already have somebody to sit with."_

_I nodded, a smile coming across my face. "I'd love to."_

_He smiled again and opened the door. "After you."_

_I went in, followed by Percy. Everyone turned to look at us. I shifted uncomfortably from the attention. "Sorry we're late, Pau—erm, I mean, Mr. Blofis. I was showing Annabeth here around school," Percy said._

_Mr. Blofis nodded. He was an average height man with salt and pepper hair. "That's alright, just don't make a habit of it. It's nice to meet you, Annabeth. Both of you can take a seat."_

_Percy sat in an empty seat in the front. I sat in the other empty seat a few rows behind him. I don't know what happened during homeroom that day. All I remember is being glad I met Percy Jackson. Maybe this year would be better than last year._

* * *

"Annabeth?" Piper asked.

Percy looked across the parking lot at that moment, meeting my eyes. I quickly looked away. "Yeah," said. "Yeah. I knew him." At least I thought I did.

**Well, that's the end of the chapter. Review please and tell me what you think! **


	2. Singing With You

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**DISCLAIMER!: I don't own PJO, HoO, Burn by Ellie Goulding, or We Are Young by F.U.N.**

**P.S. Sorry about the long wait for an update!**

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Chapter 2: Singing With You (Percy)

Of all people in all the studios in all of California, it had to be Annabeth that I ran into. I was not prepared to see her there... What was she even doing there anyways? She's an actress, not a singer!

To say I was freaking out is a major understatement. I mean, seeing the girl who broke your heart that you're still not over after five years, that wouldn't make you freak out. No. I was _dying._ She looked great, and she was watching me with those stunning grey eyes. I couldn't stand it. Yet somehow I did.

As soon as I looked at her, she looked away, but I was pretty sure she was staring at me earlier. Why do women do that? They drive you nuts all the freaking time. And why did she have to be so beautiful? She looked even better than she did in high school. She was tall, lean, and tan, with silky golden curls that were frizzy back during sophomore year when we met and she had calculating gray eyes. They were just as beautiful as ever, but now, instead of looking at me with love... They were hard. Hard and dark. Her gaze only softened when she looked at somebody else. I'd give anything for her to look at me like that again, but she hasn't in a long time. Last time she gave me that look...

_**She glared at me. I swear I died a little. She could shrivel a flower with a look like that after all. "Don't you **_**ever ****_talk to me again, Percy Jackson."_**

_Snap out of it, Jackson, _I thought. _That's all in the past. _

"How's it going, Percy?" Thalia asked. She looked at me with all knowing blue eyes, outlined with heavy black eyeliner. Thalia Grace is my cousin and I've known her forever, literally. Being about six months older than me, she was there when I was born. She looks sort of like me. Black hair, pale-ish, blue eyes, but hers are more sky blue while mine are blue-green, like the sea. She has a punk style. Black clothes, lots of silver jewelry, heavy eye makeup. She looks a lot more scary than she acts though. She's sarcastic and tough, and she can be a major bitch to people who deserve it, but she's one of the most loyal people I've ever met.

"Fine," I lied, looking away from Annabeth. There was no point though. Thalia noticed.

She shook her head, looking from me to Annabeth. "Look, I know you're probably never going to tell me what happened between you two, and I know you guys basically decided you hate each other and you're never gonna talk to each other again, but you know, I see the way you stare at her. You still love her. Go talk to her."

I shook my head. "She probably won't talk to me."

She shrugged. "You never know until you try." She gave me a meaningful look. "So try." She patted me on the back and ran across the parking lot herself to Annabeth and gave her a hug. Annabeth actually allowed herself to smile, something I hadn't seen her do since I went into that burning studio room. I didn't know she still could smile. But it was a different smile now. Not the one she used to have. Not the one she had when we first met.

I still sat there. I remembered when we met. I smiled at that, staring off into space.

_**I was at my locker, trying to figure out what I did with my copy of **_**To Kill A Mockingbird.****_ It was on my summer reading list and it counted as my first grade. Of course, I hadn't finished it, but at least I started it, unlike the other four books on the list. I was trying to find it so I could finish it during homeroom. Somehow though, my locker was already a mess despite it being the first day of school and all. I did use the locker during summer school though, so that was part of it. _**

_**I heard footsteps walking down the hall and glanced over to see Mrs. Grey walking Drew down the hall, arguing about her clothes. I smiled at that. Some things never change.**_

_**I continued looking through my locker for that stupid book when-THUNK! Somebody walked right into my locker door and fell on their butt on the floor. "Ow," the person muttered.**_

"_**Oh crap. Are you okay?" I asked, and turned to the person. It was a blond girl, sitting sprawled out on the floor. She was tall, tan, and lean. Her hair was a mess of blond curls. She looked like a California girl. But startling grey eyes ruined the image. Yet there was something beautiful about those stunning, calculating grey eyes, scary as they were. **_

_**I held a hand out to her. "Here, let me help you."**_

_**She scanned me and blushed. She took my hand, and I pulled her up on her feet. "Are you alright?" I asked.**_

_**She nodded, still blushing with embarrassment. I grinned. "Gotta watch where you're going," I teased, trying to make her smile, but it wasn't working. "You're new," I said, noticing the schedule in her hand.**_

"_**How'd you know?" she asked. She speaks! She had a pretty voice. My thoughts wandered randomly. I wondered it she could sing. **_

_**I smiled again. "Only newbies carry around their schedules. Even the freshmen know better."**_

_**She didn't say anything, just went around me to the locker next to mine, unlocked and opened it, then she must've realized she didn't have anything to put in there at the moment, so she closed it and looked at her schedule again. She glanced down the hall nervously and then glanced behind her. She doesn't know where her next class is, I realized.**_

_**I closed my locker. "Who do you have for homeroom?" I asked the girl.**_

_**She studied her schedule. "Mr. Blofis."**_

_**I smiled. "Me too. He's my stepdad. Come on, I'll take you there."**_

"_**You don't have-" she started to protest.**_

_**I cut her off. "It's the least I could do after you ran into my locker door."**_

_**She blushed. "That was my fault though."**_

_**I grinned. "Maybe, but I shouldn't have left it open like that. Come on. I have to go there anyways."**_

_**She finally smiled. She had a beautiful smile that could light up a room. "Alright."**_

_**I took her to Paul's room, giving her advice as we walked. She told me her name's Annabeth Chase and I asked her if she'd sit with me at lunch. She smiled and said that she would. **_

_**Around lunch, I was getting nervous, which was weird. I was wondering if I made the right decision about Annabeth which was stupid. She was nice and cool. Nothing to worry about. I just hoped my friends were nice to her.**_

_**I found Annabeth at her locker, putting a couple books inside before lunch. "Hey," I said, opening my own locker and put my history book in, then closed it. "Ready to go?"**_

_**She closed her locker and gave me a nervous smile. "Yeah."**_

"_**Don't worry," I said as we walked to the cafeteria, "my friends are cool."**_

_**She nodded as we walked into the cafeteria. "Right."**_

"_**Annabeth!" a girl's voice called and my cousin, Thalia, ran across the cafeteria to us. "I saved you a spot-" She noticed me. "I see you met Kelp Head."**_

"_**Oh, um, yeah," Annabeth said.**_

"_**We had a run in this morning. Her locker's next to mine too."**_

_**Thalia nodded. "Great! Now let's get some lunch." She grabbed a tray, and we started through the lunch line. **_

_**After paying for our lunch, we sat down at a table with Jason, Grover, Nico, Travis and Connor.**_

_**Jason's Thalia's younger brother, a year younger than most of us, but he looks nothing like her. He's blond, tan, and tall with a scar just above his upper lip from when he tried to eat a stapler when he was two. He has blue eyes like Thalia. Their personalities are different. Jason's a little golden boy while Thalia's a rebel. He gets perfect grades. He's on sports teams. They both can be bossy though and know how to take charge. Something me and my cousins have in common. Except Nico.**_

_**Nico di Angelo is another one of my cousins, but he's not Jason and Thalia's brother. He has dark shaggy hair, dark eyes, and olive colored skin. He's emo, I guess. He wears all black and he's kind of quiet. Unless he gets hyper. Then you can't get the kid to shut up. **_

_**Speaking of being hyper and not shutting up, Travis and Connor Stoll are our other two friends, two of the few I'm not related too. They both have blond hair and mischievous grins. They're not twins, but they look a lot of alike and nobody can remember which one's older. The only way you can tell them apart is Travis is taller. They're both major pranksters and know at least fifty different ways to pickpocket you and at least thirty ways to pick a lock. My point is, don't trust them. **_

_**Then there's Grover Underwood, the complete opposite of most of my friends. He's a junior, older than most of us. He has curly brown hair that looks like a mini afro, a wispy goatee, and a bad case of acne. He's awesome, but he's a little too uptight and freaks out a lot. He's even afraid of Nico's dad. Despite all that, he's been my best friend since I was twelve.**_

_**They were in the middle of a conversation, but stopped talking as soon as we got to the table, looking at Annabeth. "Who's the babe?" Connor finally asked.**_

_**I ignored that. "Hey guys," I said, sitting down. "This is Annabeth." I motioned to her as she sat down next to me. **_

"_**Why hello there," Connor said, licking his hand and smoothing his hair back, unsuccessfully. "I'm Connor, but you can call me whatever you want."**_

_**Annabeth raised an eyebrow.**_

"_**Ignore him," Travis said. "He thinks he's hotstuff, but **_**I'm****_ obviously the better looking one." He gave her a goodnatured grin. "I'm Travis by the way."_**

"_**And emo dude and afro boy here are Nico and Grover," Thalia said from her seat next to Annabeth on the other side. **_

"_**Hi," Annabeth said.**_

_**Nico rolled his eyes. "For the thousandth time, Thalia," he said, "I'm not emo."**_

"_**It's only the 999th time," Thalia pointed out, "and if you're not emo, are you goth?"**_

_**Nico shook his head. "I think I'd rather be emo."**_

_**Thalia laughed. "See! I told you he's emo!"**_

_**Travis sighed, pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and took out some cash. Paying in a bet.**_

"_**I never admitted that I'm emo," Nico told him.**_

_**Travis smirked at Thalia. "Ha!"**_

_**At that moment, Nicki sat down with us. "Hey, Percy," she said, and kissed me on the cheek. **_

_**Annabeth was looking at us. "Hi," she said awkwardly. "I'm Annabeth."**_

_**Nicki looked at her and her smile melted a little before bouncing right back. "Hey. I'm Nicki, Percy's girlfriend."**_

"_**Oh," Annabeth said, and I couldn't help but wonder what that 'oh' meant.**_

I gazed across the parking lot. I could go talk to her. Yeah. Why not? No. No, I couldn't do it.

Jason appeared at my side. "So, what are you going to do?"

I shrugged. "Thalia thinks I should go talk to her."

He snorted. "Thalia doesn't know an awkward moment. She doesn't get it." He glanced over at his sister, Annabeth, and some other girl they were talking to. His eyes lingered on Annabeth's friend. She looked really familiar. Then it struck me. She was Piper McLean, daughter of Tristan McLean and Aphrodite, and Annabeth's manager. "Is that Piper McLean?" Jason asked. I nodded. "She's gorgeous." Then he grinned. "I got an idea on how to get you over there and avoid an awkward moment. You're going to be my wingman."

I laughed. "You can't be serious."

"Let's go." He took off across the parking lot to Annabeth, Thalia, and Piper who were talking about something. I had no choice but to follow him.

"Hi," Jason said, standing in front of the girls. "It's great to see you again."

Thalia grinned. "You, too, Jason. It's been a long five minutes."

Jason looked at the sky. "I was talking to Annabeth, Thalia."

Annabeth grinned and gave him a hug. "It's good to see you, too, Jason."

I stood there awkwardly, like a moron with my hands in my pockets. "Hey."

Annabeth's smile melted. "Hey, Percy," she said, struggling to give a fake smile. "It's good to see you."  
I smiled. "You too. You look great."

She gave me a half smile. "Thanks. You too."

We stood there awkwardly a moment. "I'm Jason, Percy's band mate," he said and held his hand out to Piper.

She smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Piper, Annabeth's manager. It's nice to meet you."

He grinned. "You too."

Thalia smiled. "Hey Jason! I have an awesome idea! Let's go introduce Piper to our other band mates and check out the hot firefighters."

"But most of the firefighters are guys," Jason pointed out.

Thalia shrugged. "You can watch Piper and I check them out then. So _let's go_," she said, giving her head a very not-so-subtle jerk toward Annabeth and I.

"Oh!" Jason said. "Let's go then! Come on Piper!" he said it in a weird, loud monotone voice. He was a terrible actor.

Piper didn't seem to notice what was going on, or she didn't know that Annabeth and I used to date. "Yeah, um, let's go," she said, and followed Jason and Thalia off, them starting to explain before they were completely out of earshot.

I laughed a little, watching them leave. "That was real subtle, huh?" I said.

Annabeth smiled and shook her head. "They're terrible actors. I can't believe they just did that." She started laughing.

I shook my head and my smile melted. "So...How have you been, Annabeth?"

Her smile disappeared. "I'm alright." She shrugged. "I'm working on a new movie."

I nodded. "That's great," I said.

"What about you?" she asked. "You have a band now?"

I nodded. "We just started recording a couple months ago and we only have one song out." We were actually doing pretty good though. I was surprised that we were such a big hit. Our first single was number one in just a couple weeks. "So, if you're an actor, what are you doing at the recording studio?" More importantly, why did she have to show up at _my _recording studio? I don't mean to sound like an asshole or anything, but I seriously did not want to see her. I mean, she's just a reminder of what happened back in high school between us and it still hurt.

She shook her head. "Believe me, it wasn't my idea. Milo, the director, decided, without telling me until today, that I'm singing a song for the soundtrack of the movie."

I nodded. "Oh." I looked at the ground. "That's great."

She shrugged. "Singing's not my thing." I didn't comment at that. I didn't know if I should.

_**I had choir last period of the day. It wasn't my idea, but it was either that or health. Putting balloons on bananas and playing parents for a doll didn't sound all that appealing, so I went with choir.**_

_**I walked in and was surprised to find Annabeth sitting in the front row. I took a seat next to her. "I didn't think you were the kind of girl who sings."**_

_**She turned to my with a smirk. "There's a lot you don't know about me."**_

"_**You any good?"**_

_**Her smirk disappeared and she shrugged. "I don't know."**_

_**I grinned. "Well, you probably have a better voice than I do."**_

_**She smiled. "Can you sing?"**_

"_**Better than you think," I said.**_

_**She smiled again, but didn't say anything.**_

_**The teacher came in. She was a tall, lean woman with long dark hair. She was around thirty and pretty hot. A couple boys whistled when she came into the room. "Good afternoon," she said. "I'm Miss Muse. I'm your choir teacher this year. I'd like to hear each of you sing a song today. Duets or singles. Who's first?"**_

_**A hand shot up. I could hardly believe who's it was. It was my hand.**_

"_**Percy?" Miss Muse said, a little surprised. I wasn't the kind of guy that volunteered often. She blinked. "Single or duet?"**_

_**I glanced at Annabeth. She raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything.**_

_**I grinned at her. She had no idea what she was getting into. "Single. I'll sing We Are Young." I sang the song as best as I could. Everyone clapped when I was done, but I wasn't sure if it was because I was good or because they thought they had to.**_

_**I took my seat next to Annabeth. "How was I?"**_

_**She smiled. "You were good."**_

"_**Really?"**_

_**She nodded. Then she smiled, teasingly. "But not as good as I'm going to be." She raised her hand as soon as Miss Muse asked for a volunteer to sing next. **_

"_**And your name is?"**_

"_**Annabeth Chase," Annabeth told her. "I'm new."**_

_**She nodded and smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Annabeth. Single or duet?"**_

"_**Single. I'm going to sing Burn."**_

**We, we dont have to worry bout nothing**

**Cause we got the fire, and we're burning one hell of a something**

**They, they gonna see us from outer space, outer space**

**Light it up, like we're the stars of the human race, human race**

**When the lights turned down, they dont know what they heard**

**Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world**

**We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky**

**Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire**

**And we gonna let it burn burn burn burn**

**We gonna let it burn burn burn burn**

**Gonna let it burn burn burn burn**

**We gonna let it burn burn burn burn**

**We dont wanna leave, no, we just gonna be right now  
And what we see, is everybody's on the floor acting crazy getting lurker to the lights out  
Music's on, im waking up, we stop the vibe, and we bump it up  
And it's over now, we got the love, there's no secret now, no secret now  
When the lights turned down, they dont know what they heard  
Strike the smash, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire  
And we gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
Gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
When the lights turned down, they dont know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
Burn burn burn burn  
We can light it up up up  
So they cant put it out out out  
We can light it up up up  
So they cant put it out out out  
We can light it up up up  
So they cant put it out out out  
We can light it up up up  
So they cant put it out out out  
When the lights turned down, they dont know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire  
And we gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
Gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
We gonna let it burn burn burn burn  
When the lights turned down, they don't know what they heard  
Strike the match, play it loud, giving love to the world  
We'll be raising our hands, shining up to the sky  
Cause we got the fire, fire, fire, yeah we got the fire fire fire  
And we gonna let it burn**

_**She looked at me when she was done. Everybody was quiet. Annabeth Chase could sing.**_

"_**Wow."**_

The point is, although she might not know it, Annabeth was an amazing singer. She was amazing beyond belief. "You have a beautiful voice though," I said.

She blushed. "Always a charmer, huh?"

"I try. Annabeth-" Of course, at that moment, both of our phones had to ring.

"We should probably answer," she said.

"Yeah," I agreed, and we both pulled out our phones. "Hello?" I answered.

"Percy!" came a frantic voice on the other end. "I'm dealing with a major crisis!"

I ran a hand through my hair. "What's the problem?"

"I'm not sure what color of roses to have for the wedding! Red, yellow, pink, white... Why does there have to be so many options!?" she demanded.

"I don't know, Silena. Ask Nicki. They're just flowers."

"Just flowers. Just. Flowers. THEY ARE _NOT_ JUST FLOWERS! They are _the _most important decoration in every wedding!"

"Silena, I'm a guy. I know absolutely nothing about flowers."

She huffed. "Whatever. I'll just ask Ni—Oh my God! I totally got the best idea! White roses with blue sprigs of something! You know? It's because the wedding's at the beach and your favorite color's blue and Nicki's dress is white. Perfect deal! Gotta go. TTYL." She pulled the phone away from her ear. "Nicki! I got the best idea for-" She hung up.

"Milo! I can't do that," Annabeth was saying. She glanced at me. "I'm not doing it. I'm sure he doesn't want to." She hung up the phone.

"What was that about?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. So you don't know anything about flowers, huh?"

I shrugged. "Not really."  
"Why do you need flowers?"

I was trying to think of some sort of lie when Piper ran over to us with Grover, my manager, at her heels. "Hey guys. We just got the best news! Milo said it's okay if you sing a duet together for the track!"

"What do you mean, he said it's okay?" Annabeth asked.

"He told me you were wanting to make the song a duet and he thought we should ask Percy's band if they'd join you," Piper said.

Annabeth frowned. "I told him I didn't want to do the duet." Her eyes hardened.

Piper frowned too. "He's such a little asshole. He told me you were wanting to do a duet with Percy and he asked the producer. The producer said it was a great idea. If you don't do it now, the producer will probably make you."

Grover looked at me. "So, Thalia, Nico, and Jason all agreed. You in?"

I glanced across the parking lot at them. They were all nodding their heads enthusiastically. I looked at Annabeth. She was giving me a look. A don't-you-dare look.

I smiled. I don't know what the hell was wrong with me, or what I was thinking, but I nodded. "Yeah. I'd love to work with Annabeth."

* * *

**And that's it for chapter 2! It's pretty long actually. 7 pages. My longest chapter out of all my stories! I'm so proud!**

**So review and tell me what you think and if you have time, vote in my poll!**

**Thanks! **

**~7thseven**


	3. Better Off Without You

**Hey guys! So here's how this is going to work. I'm going to alternate between the present and past. There will probably be at least one flashback each chapter. Flashbacks are in bold italics.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**DISCLAIMER!: I don't own PJO or HOO. And it's so freaking sad!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Better Off Without You

(Percy)

I was smiling when I rode home in a taxi that evening, after recording with the band for a few hours (once the building had been cleared as safe). As much as it hurt to see her, I was happy to get the chance to sing with Annabeth again. She had a beautiful voice. It made you feel like... Like there's nothing better than this, if that makes any sense. That sounds corning, doesn't it?

I went inside the apartment, happy as could be. "Hi Percy!" Silena greeted me from the couch.

"_Percy!_" Nicki shrieked from the bedroom. "Don't come in here! You can't see me!"

I frowned and looked at Silena. "What's she talking about?" I asked.

"We went dress shopping today," Silena explained. "And we got flowers, no thanks to you." She rolled her eyes. "We stopped by the bakery and ordered a wedding cake. You'll love it. It's chocolate with white frosting and blue flowers. I got a part of the beach blocked off from the public and paparazzi for the ceremony, but we're still looking at places to hold the reception." Silena's a wedding planner and she was good at it, but really expensive. I've got to stop telling Nicki that she can have nothing but the best. At least we got a discount since Silena's an old friend of Nick's. They used to work together before Silena decided she wanted to be a wedding planner instead. Silena's actually Piper's sister, which I hadn't realized until that moment. They have the same mom, although they don't look all that much alike. Silena has porcelain skin, black hair, and bright blue eyes. She's tall and slim. Silena and Piper have the same mom, but different dads.

I sat on the couch. "Sounds great."

Silena sighed. "You really couldn't care less, could you?"

I shrugged. "It just seems like too much sometimes." I mean, who cares what color the flowers are? Or whether the rug Nicki will walk down is the right one? Or if my tie is blue or black? Does any of it even matter? Of course, I couldn't say that to Silena or she'd murder me with a Valentine's Day card yelling something about how your wedding day is the most important day of your life. I might have said too much already.

Silena, surprisingly, nodded. "Most guys feel that way. They don't care that much about the wedding." She looked at me sharply. "You _do _still want to marry Nicki, though, right?"

I frowned. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Silena studied me for a long moment, and I'll admit, it was kind of awkward. She stared at my face for a long moment and frowned.

"Why wouldn't I?" I repeated, not sure if she had heard me.

Nicki burst in at that moment and tackled me, kissing me in the process. "You're home!" she said and smiled. And you gotta love that smile. It makes the room light up. Nicki's stunning, really, with her silky, wavy brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. She's almost always happy, too, and when she does get mad... Well, let's hope she just doesn't get mad.

Silena frowned at me. "No reason," she finally lied. I could tell from the way she was still watching me, like she thought I was hiding something. Which I wasn't. Silena stood up. "Well, I better be going. I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow Nicki and we'll discuss some more details about the wedding."

Nicki nodded from her seat on my lap. "Of course. Thanks again, Silena."

Silena said her goodbyes, still looking at me weird, and left, leaving me alone with my fiancee. And my dog, Mrs. O'Leary, who hopped up next to us on the couch.

"So," Nicki said, standing up and walking towards the kitchen that was separated from the living room by a long bar counter, "how was work?"

I love it when she talks like that. Like we're normal people. Not a famous lead singer and a top model. Just an ordinary young couple.

"Great," I said.

She smirked at me with her head cocked slightly. "Really? I thought I heard on the news that a soundboard caught fire at the studio and everybody had to evacuate."

I smiled and shrugged. "Apollo has a new intern."

She laughed and opened the stainless steel fridge. "That explains it."

Apollo doesn't usually hire people because of their skill. He goes based on looks. And gender. And if you used to be a model for Victoria's Secret, you have the job before you apply. Yet there was something different about his newest intern, Rachel. First of all, she wasn't a slut. And she seemed completely oblivious to how he acted around her. Rachel has been working at Apollo Records for a couple weeks now and still hasn't been fired yet (meaning, he hadn't screwed her and moved on.) If I didn't know better, I'd say that Apollo might actually like her, but that'd be ridiculous, right? Maybe not so much...

"So," I said, changing the subject, "you remember Annabeth Chase right?" There was a long pause. "Nick?" I called, leaning back a little so I could see her in the kitchen.

"Yes," she said to the fridge, not looking at me. "Why?"

I shouldn't of brought it up. It seemed wrong to bring up the ex-girlfriend you were in love with to your fiancee. I had to think up something. "That new movie she's in looks interesting," I blurted out. Idiot. Annabeth's new movie was a romantic comedy, that I knew from the information Piper gave us about the songs we were going to be singing. I didn't know anything else about it though. It could be a frickin' chick flick for all I know.

"That's nice," Nicki said, continuing her conversation with the fridge. Crap. I screwed up.

I stood up, went to the kitchen, and wrapped my arms around her from behind. "I didn't mean anything by it," I said. "She's my past, Nicki. You're my present."

She sighed. "You're right. Sorry. It's just..." She shook her head.

I nodded and kissed her. Nicki's never liked Annabeth that much.

_**Travis smirked at Thalia. "Ha!"**_

_** At that moment, Nicki sat down with us. "Hey, Percy," she said, and kissed me on the cheek. Even that caught Mrs. Dodds, the lunch supervisor's attention. She gave us the Look, reminding us that PDA's forbidden. Nicki rolled her eyes and I smirked.**_

_** Annabeth was looking at us and I felt a little awkward for some reason. "Hi," she said. "I'm Annabeth."**_

_** Nicki looked at her and her smile melted a little before bouncing right back, but a little forced. "Hey. I'm Nicki, Percy's **_**girlfriend****_," she said, putting a little too much emphasis on that last word. _**

_** "Oh," Annabeth said, and I couldn't help but wonder what that 'oh' meant. **_

_** I looked around the table. Travis and Connor were trying to see how many peas they could fit in their mouths. Jason, Nico, and Grover were in the middle of a conversation. Thalia met my eyes though. She raised an eyebrow at me and noticing my confused look mouthed **_**Kelp Head. ****_I just shrugged. She rolled her eyes and turned to Annabeth before anyone could notice our silent conversation. "So, Annabeth, what do you think of Goode High so far?"_**

_** Annabeth shrugged. "I like it so far."**_

_** Thalia smiled. "That's Goode," she said.**_

_** Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Do they seriously use that slogan all the time? I swear I saw at least four different banners with it on the way in."**_

_** I smiled. "It's our favorite word."**_

_** She smirked. "Apparently."**_

_** Nicki glanced back and forth between us. "So, Anniebell-"**_

_** "It's Annabeth, actually," Annabeth told her.**_

_** "Right," Nicki said and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. So, have you met any cute guys yet?" **_

_** Annabeth glanced at me, quickly looking away when she realized I was still looking at her. She smiled at Nicki. "Some," she said, mysteriously. **_

_** "Of course!" Connor said, around a mouthful of peas (which was pretty disgusting). "She's met me!"**_

_** Thalia rolled her eyes. "Any girl that can see you right now will disagree with that statement."**_

_** Connor swallowed and grinned. "Face it, Thals. You're madly in love with me." He kissed her on the cheek, and she gave him a murderous look before punching him in the arm. Connor winced and Thalia turned back to us. **_

_** "Anyways," she said. "What were we talking about?"**_

_** "Hot guys," Nicki reminded her. "So do you have a boyfriend, Annabeth?" **_

_** Annabeth blushed and shook her head.**_

_** Nicki raised an eyebrow. "Really? A pretty girl like you and you don't have one?" She was pressing the topic.**_

_** Annabeth blushed more. She was kind of cute when she blushed. "No, I wasn't that popular at my old school."**_

_** "That's too bad. Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Nicki asked.**_

_** Annabeth blushed and looked at the floor. "Nick," I warned.**_

_** Nicki held her hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean anything by it!" she said, then snapped her fingers and announced, "I got it! We'll set Annabeth up with somebody!" Is it wrong that I felt a little jealous when she said that? **_

Nicki turned around and looked at me. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

Oh, just about my ex-girlfriend. And how beautiful she is with that blond hair and gray eyes. And how smart and funny she is. _Stop it Percy! You're _engaged. _You can't like another girl! Besides, remember what Annabeth did! Your life has been great without her. Your band got signed. You're living in California. You have a beautiful fiancée. Your life is great. You're better off without her. _Right. Exactly.

"Percy?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." _Keep telling yourself that._

* * *

(Annabeth)

Stupid Percy. I mean, _gods. _Why would he do that? Why? It's like he _wants _to torture me. But he's done that. He showed up today, reminding me that he's still alive, and that was enough. Enough for my chest to ache. I loved him and then he had to go and—_Forget him, Annabeth! He's in the past! _Right.

"Why didn't you tell me you know Percy Jackson?!" Piper demanded from the seat across from me in the limo. She held up a magazine (that she conveniently had with her) with Percy's face plastered on it with a caption saying something about him being a sexy heartthrob.

I sighed. Piper's my best friend and I tell her everything, but I never told her about Percy. As far as she knew, I moved to California with my Mom because of the divorce. I never once mentioned Percy Jackson. Not once.

"It wasn't that big of a deal," I murmured, and sunk a little in my seat, feeling guilty about lying to my best friend.

Piper rolled her eyes, annoyed, but not angry. "Don't lie to me, Annabeth Chase. Thalia and Jason told me _everything_."

Everything? No, probably not. They didn't know everything. Only Percy and I did. He knows what he did. I know what he did. I didn't tell anybody, and it's not like he would. "Yeah?" I asked.

"_Yeah_," she said, in the same tone. "You and Percy were buddies. You made out one day. You dated and got really excited, then poof! You break up and move to California. What happened between you and Percy?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it."

Piper sighed. "_Fine_." She opened the magazine and started reading it. About five minutes later, she looked up from the magazine at me. "You don't still have a thing for him, do you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not."

"Good." She went back to reading her magazine.

I frowned. Why did she just ask that? "Why?"

Piper paused, then shrugged and handed me the magazine. "Read for yourself."

The article was titled _Percy Jackson_ in a huge obnoxious font with a picture of him, shirtless, in between the words. I rolled my eyes. No wonder he had such a big head. I started reading the article.

_Percy Jackson in his band, Heroes, along with his band mates and cousins, Thalia Grace, Jason Grace, and Nico di Angelo, has hit the world by storm. Three months ago, the band released their first song, Forget You _**(A/N I made that song up)**_. Since, they've released two more songs and are currently recording their album. Since, Percy Jackson's become quite the heartthrob with his boyish grin and sexy body. _

I rolled my eyes again. Seriously?

_The twenty-two year old has teenage girls and women alike lining up for him, but is this young stud—_I had to try hard not to crack up at that one—_still single? According to anonymous sources, this young stud has been caught with a mysterious young lady several times. Who is the woman? _

_ Recently, it has been discovered that the woman is model Nicole Ashley. When asked about her in a review Percy Jackson admitted that he is in fact, dating Nicole, that is until recently when the couple announced that-_

I stared at the magazine.

"Annabeth?" Piper asked, and nudged me.

"Percy's engaged," I said in disbelief. "To Nicki Ashley."

* * *

**Dun, dun, dun. And now she knows. **

**Yeah, I know it probably wasn't the best chapter, but everyone's asking about Percy's fiancee (I changed her from Reyna to an OC), so I thought I should write a chapter with her in it. **

**So what do you think? Review please?**


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